Return to Asphodel
by The Silver Mystery
Summary: Sequel one shot to Asphodel. Couldn't help it.  I was on a roll.


I felt like doing a follow up to the Asphodel story, since the ball has now started rolling. I can't help it! I need to get this going otherwise my mind peters out again and I-CHOCOLATE!

Ahem. Anyway, do enjoy!

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Return to Asphodel

Floating. Drifting. This feeling was not foreign to him, but this time was different. He always felt like he was floating and drifting through the waking world, but this time his grip had slipped. It felt almost as if the gloves he wore were not there and he trying to cling onto another person's sweaty, clammy hand to stay in the human world.

For once, the vampire felt lost. Well and truly lost, as if without his grip on the human world his sanity would slip and he would fall prey to all the souls he devoured and they would devour HIM. Alucard, for once, felt scared. Perhaps he was meant to go out like this, fighting against the souls he consumed as familiars and be ripped to shreds at their hands.

"Dude, for someone who is crazy sadistic and masochistic, you have serious limits and issues? Holy hell, what is the world coming to?"

The voice woke him from his dwellings of doom and fear as he opened his eyes. Suddenly he felt himself take root again and his other senses came back. He was not blinded by a large light, but greeted with lit candles and a welcome scent of sage and drinking alcohol. The setup was ever so familiar, but it was empty save for another being in the room, and this energy was familiar as well.

Asphodel. He remembered his trip to the bar a little while ago. Yet it felt like ages to him. Oddly, the bar felt like a home away from his home in his coffin. Perhaps in that little trip so long ago he made such a connection to the bar and it's little barkeeper within. His memory nagged as to how he oddly missed the quips and the connection he made with the demoness Thalo as to their backgrounds.

"Welcome back." the voice said warmly. "How was it, being tricked into coming here?" His eyes snapped to the figure above him as he felt strands of hair tickle his left cheek. Alucard chuckled as he saw the demoness bartender above him, just smiling away as she gently stroked his hair. She sat on the couch in the middle of the bar, with the vampire lying in her lap on his back. Normally he never let anyone touch him, but with her it was different. It felt…good. It soothed him and his worrisome soul. Alucard sighed softly, ignoring the jab at being tricked into coming back to Limbo. "Not pleasant is putting it mildly. Yet, still amusing that the Major would go to such lengths just to try and defeat me. Well….he succeeded this time." His voice dropped as he realized what happened.

The last few things he remembered were the Cat boy's blood flowing through the masses as he absorbed the bloodshed throughout London and how Integra broke her frigid demeanor as she realized what was going to happen to her charge. The only other time where he saw her break in such a way was when she went to her first Round Table meeting when she was still so young. Strong she may have been, but even at the age of thirteen one is still subject to emotion for being chastised for her age.

"And what makes you think he actually won?" Thalo broke the silence and his dive through his memories. "Just because he made a…cat thing commit suicide to defeat you doesn't mean he actually WON. It just means he wasn't man enough to do the job himself. Or enough of a monster to do it either."

Black eyebrows furrowed at the remark as he remembered his age old philosophy that he even spoke when he and Anderson went to blows before that dreadful Helena's nail. "The ones to kill monsters are always humans." he repeated softly to himself as sanguine colored eyes softened and became half-lidded in reflection. What the Major did was such a cowardly move. Everyone in that whole Battalion was a coward. None could stand up to his power. None of them, all were just dolls and puppets to some greater whim. The thought only made him feel angry and frustrated and also a slight bit of embarrassment. A CAT bringing down the ever powerful Vlad Dracul? "How could I have been such a fool?"

"Ahh, I wouldn't fret over it. People have gone out in worse ways. You'd be amazed as to how Napoleon died. Freaking had a heart a heart attack while having sex with Josephine!" Thalo could not help but laugh as she recounted the story, which brought out a brief laugh from the vampire as well. "But on the serious side, I wouldn't worry over it. Besides, Minos isn't letting you off THAT easy." Alucard's eyes snapped back up to Thalo whose face was as grave as a tombstone. "Yeah, he's not. said you gotta make up for all the crap you pulled. Said something about that you have this panging of atoning for your sins when you were alive."

Alucard slowly pushed himself to sit upright, putting a small amount of space between himself and the bartender as he sat down. "And what would Minos know about atonement?" he said, narrowing his eyes at the thought of someone as callous and greedy as Minos knowing about what Alucard wished to do. "Yeah, my boss is definitely an ass, I won't deny that. But on the flipside, being a judge gets old and tiresome after a while and you wanna do different things. You'd be surprised as to how he goes through files of people's lives at the highlights and goes 'Okay, you go to this circle. NEXT!' Wouldn't YOU want someone who was different come to the fray?"

"You're that person, Alucard. You may not be Dante in terms of redemption value, but hell, like I said, you have a spot secured in the First Sphere. I'd take that as a compliment once you finally pass on." Thalo finally arose from the couch, heading over to the bar, where she hopped over the ebony counter and began to make her magic in fixing a drink. "Double double, toil and trouble! Fire burn and cauldron bubble!" she recited with the voice of a crone, which made Alucard's smirk break into a smile.

"One Dracul coming right up!" she said, pouring the blood and Aqua Vitae into the shaker. "And yes, I named it after you." she winked at him as she put the top on the silver shaker and began to do its namesake with both hands around the container. "My my. A not so secret admirer?" Alucard grinned, pronounced fangs hanging over his teeth.

"Ah shaddap. I just liked the drink I made for you so much I decided to give it a name. And besides, Bloody Mary is already taken." Thalo said, rolling her eyes.

"So, Thalo, answer me this." Alucard spoke, making the demoness cock her head up to listen. "Why you? Dante had Virgil as his guide. Why did you come to be mine?" Silence reigned as king for a while in the empty bar. The question hung in the air like wet laundry on a line waiting to dry before she spoke.

"I chose to."

The answer caught him a little by surprise. A subordinate of Minos CHOOSING to be his guide? "Hey, demons can read too! I never knew you existed until Stoker wrote the book. Your energy was ALL OVER that damn manuscript and I was just dying to get a chance to meet ya!" Thalo said, her voice turning to someone with a bit of an air headed personality. "Like, THE Dracula? Oh my god! I like SOOOO had to meet you!"

Alucard could not help but laugh in a mixture of confusion and amusement at her tone in voice. "Who on earth talks in such a manner?"

"Valley girls in North America. Enough said. But seriously, you…felt very different to me. And when I got a chance to see what made you who you are now, I…felt compelled to. I had to fight with my boss over getting to make you come to Asphodel in the first place. He spouted off some bull about breaking some fourth wall if I met you. But whatever. What's done is done!"

The vampire never imagined he would actually be giving a mirthful laugh at the demoness' antics and anecdotes, but here he was, laughing away. "Somehow, you are making me laugh all over again, Thalo and I do not know why." he said, recovering from his chuckles. "Well, hell, humor is the savior of man's spiral into madness. And besides, you look like you could use a laugh or two. Always so damn grave. Why so serious?" she quipped as she poured the contents into another tumbler glass, garnishing with a curl of blood orange rind. The vampire rolled his eyes in amusement as he took his namesake drink, getting up from the couch to take his drink and sip lightly at it. "Comes with the job."

"Ahh, but there is always room for humor in life." the demoness shot back at him, forming a drink from green contents for herself. "Hell, I find time to read up stupid things and trashy romance novels just to get a good chuckle." Now that he thought about it, he did find great amusement in Police Girl's frustration with his intrusions on her mind and her occasional moments of fits when he would barge in on her trying to get dressed. But now he wondered if he would ever see her face again. Would he ever see Integra's face again as well?

"Yeah, you will." Thalo's voice cut through his thoughts again as she sipped her drink, which had distinct melon scent. "You just got a LOT of work to do."

"Work?"

"If you wanna go back to the world of the living, you gotta cut through the riffraff of souls ya gathered. And let me tell ya, they are not too pleased with you. I've encountered a number of them, and they are usually mixed with rage and sadness for being cut out so early in life."

Alucard felt a question lurk in the back of his mind. The memories came back to him in a trickle, then a flood as he remembered her name.

Westenra. Lucy Westenra. "And what of-?"

"Oh, she's not mad at you. Disappointed at herself that she fell for you, yes. But not mad directly at YOU. She's actually in Paradiso as well. Not sure of which Circle, but she's there. I keep seeing a damn cowboy hanging around her though. He is crazy sweet on her." Alucard smiled at the thought of Lucy being chased by Morris throughout Paradiso, asking for her hand in marriage. So she forgave him. What a true surprise. "Forgiveness is a powerful thing."

"Indeed." Thalo replied, leaning on the counter. "Much like how you gotta forgive yourself first. Because the funny thing with you, Vlad is this…." she said, watching as the vampire's eyes widen a littler at the use of his original name. " You're a hell of a lot more human than you give yourself credit for. Hell, you said 'Amen' after Anderson died! Because you KNEW you had lost a rival…..and a potential friend in a sick, twisted way. He kept up with you, and you wanted to see him off in a good way." Thalo sipped at her drink, which had gone down to half in between her talking and hearing his thoughts. But she did have a point. Somehow, the Judas priest wormed his way into his own heart, even if it wasn't beating and had not beaten for heaven knows how long. For once, he felt well and truly grounded, almost as if gravity could really and truly affect him now.

"Oh and uh, you better get a move on. I can hear a lot of souls getting ready to bang down the door, and the damn door can only take so much." Thalo said, pointing to the door, which was almost about to come off its hinges with souls trying to come in. "That damn war is just making shit hard for me and Minos, I tell ya. Go out this way." She said, forming a portal made of shadows next to the vampire. "Before you go, one more thing….Good luck. You will need it against all of them." she said, smiling faintly.

"Thank you, Thalo. And good luck with the mess you will have going on soon." he smirked back at her, before stepping through the portal with it closing behind him. Now, he mused, he felt truly grounded. A monster with a human heart. Only one thought came to mind as the millions of specters of days past and present came to the fray for him to face.

Bring it on.

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Holy HELL! Train of thought much? Ha! I couldn't help it! After the first one, I couldn't help but do a second one. Hope you like and review please! Flames will be used to help me bake my awesome cheesecake.

Thanks and See ya later!


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